[Sca-cooks] feast

[Huette von Ahrens]

> Not yet...I'll try some new dishes out of the Medieval Arab Cookery book, along with possibly
> some Mughal dishes...maybe one course of each and mixing the two for the dayboard.  Now that
> I've found a source for good cheap lamb, it makes things a LOT easier!
> 
> Kiri

Well I made Lamb Samosas that were very popular.

Lamb Samosas

>From the Sultan's Book of Delights (late fifteenth century)

Another kind of Ghiyath Shahi's samosas: take finely minced deer meat and flavour 
ghee with fenugreek and, having mixed the mince with saffron, put it in the ghee.  
Roast salt and cumin together.  Having added cumin, cloves, coriander and a quarter 
of a ratti of musk to the mince, cook it well.  Put half of the minced onion and a 
quarter of the minced dry ginger into the meat.  When it has become well-cooked, 
put in rosewater.  Take it off and stuff the samosas.  Make a hole in the samosa 
with a stick and fry it in sweet-smelling ghee and serve it (when) tender.  By the 
same method of any kind of meat that is desired, can be made.  

Ingredients:

Filling:

1 lbs ground lamb
1 tbsp ghee or clarified butter
1 tsp ground fenugreek
1/4 tsp saffron
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp cloves
1 tsp coriander
1 large sweet onion, minced [1 cup approx.]
1/4 cup minced fresh ginger
1 tbsp rose water

Put ghee in a large frying pan and add fenugreek and saffron, stirring for a 
few minutes.  Add lamb and start to brown.  Add salt, cumin, cloves, coriander
onion and ginger, stirring until the meat is brown and fragrant.  Add rose
water and remove from heat.

Pastry:

Ingredients:

2 cups unbleached flour
3/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tbsp ghee or clarified butter
1/2 to 3/4 cup water 

Sift flour and salt together. Make a well in the center of the mixture and quickly 
pour in ghee and water. Stir briskly until combined, gradually adding more water 
if necessary. You should aim for a slightly moist dough that sticks together. 
On a lightly floured surface, knead dough for 10 minutes until smooth and elastic, 
cover with damp towel. 

Assembly:

To assemble samosa, break off pieces of dough (leaving what's left under the towel) and 
shape into balls. Roll each ball into a circle about 1/10 of an inch thick and 5 inches 
across. Cut the circle in half. In one side put filling, fold half of the half circle 
over to make a triangle. Seal by brushing a bit of water along the edges and pinching 
it together with your finger.  Heat 2 inches ghee in a skillet or pan to 375 degrees. 
Put in samosas and let it fry to a golden brown on each side. Then drain on cloth or 
paper towel and eat.

Note:  I didn't experiment with the roasting cumin and salt together.  But I added 
both to the filling.  I didn't have any musk to add and couldn't think of an adequate
substitute, so I left it out.  I followed a modern Indian recipe for the pastry since
the original was so vague.

Huette

Remember that while money talks, chocolate sings.

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